Scherer Michael, Romano Eduardo, Caldwell Susan, Taylor Eileen
a Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) , Calverton , Maryland.
b Institute for Public Strategies (IPS) , San Diego , California.
Traffic Inj Prev. 2018 Feb 17;19(2):111-117. doi: 10.1080/15389588.2017.1350268. Epub 2017 Sep 28.
Driving under the influence (DUI) citations are still a serious concern among drivers aged 16-20 years and have been shown to be related to increased risk of fatal and nonfatal crashes. A battery of laws and policies has been enacted to address this concern. Though numerous studies have evaluated these policies, there is still a need for comprehensive policy evaluations that take into account a variety of contextual factors. Previous effort by this research team examined the impact of 20 minimum legal drinking age-21 laws in the state of California, as they impacted alcohol-related crash rates among drivers under 21 years of age while at the same time accounting for alcohol and gas taxes, unemployment rates, sex distribution among drivers, and sobriety checkpoints. The current research seeks to expand this evaluation to the county level (San Diego County). More specifically, we evaluate the impact of measures subject to county control such as retail beverage service (RBS) laws and social host (SH) laws, as well as media coverage, city employment, alcohol outlet density, number of sworn officers, alcohol consumption, and taxation policies, to determine the most effective point of intervention for communities seeking to reduce underage DUI citations.
Annual DUI citation data (2000 to 2013), RBS and SH policies, and city-wide demographic, economic, and environmental information were collected and applied to each of the 20 cities in San Diego County, California. A structural equation model was fit to estimate the relative contribution of the variables of interest to DUI citation rates.
Alcohol consumption and alcohol outlet density both demonstrated a significant increase in DUI rates, whereas RBS laws, SH laws, alcohol tax rates, media clusters, gas tax rates, and unemployment rates demonstrated significant decreases in DUI rates.
At the county level, although RBS laws, SH laws, and media efforts were found to contribute to a significant reduction in DUI rates, the largest significant contributors to reducing DUI rates were alcohol and gas taxation rates. Policy makers interested in reducing DUI rates among teenagers should examine these variables within their specific communities and consider conducting community-specific research to determine the best way to do so. Future efforts should be made to develop models that represent specific communities who are interested in reducing DUI rates among drivers aged 16-20 years.
酒后驾车（DUI）罚单仍是16至20岁驾驶者的一个严重问题，且已表明与致命和非致命撞车风险增加有关。已制定了一系列法律和政策来解决这一问题。尽管众多研究对这些政策进行了评估，但仍需要进行综合政策评估，要考虑到各种背景因素。该研究团队之前的工作考察了加利福尼亚州20项法定最低饮酒年龄为21岁的法律的影响，因为它们影响了21岁以下驾驶者中与酒精相关的撞车率，同时考虑了酒精税和汽油税、失业率、驾驶者中的性别分布以及清醒度检查站。当前的研究旨在将这一评估扩展到县级（圣地亚哥县）。更具体地说，我们评估受县控制的措施的影响，如零售饮料服务（RBS）法律和社会东道主（SH）法律，以及媒体报道、城市就业、酒类销售点密度、宣誓警察数量、酒精消费和税收政策，以确定寻求减少未成年酒后驾车罚单的社区的最有效干预点。
收集了年度酒后驾车罚单数据（2000年至2013年）、零售饮料服务和社会东道主政策以及全市范围的人口、经济和环境信息，并将其应用于加利福尼亚州圣地亚哥县的20个城市中的每一个。拟合了一个结构方程模型来估计感兴趣变量对酒后驾车罚单率的相对贡献。
酒精消费和酒类销售点密度均显示酒后驾车率显著增加，而零售饮料服务法律、社会东道主法律、酒精税率、媒体集群、汽油税率和失业率显示酒后驾车率显著下降。
在县级层面，虽然发现零售饮料服务法律、社会东道主法律和媒体努力有助于显著降低酒后驾车率，但降低酒后驾车率的最大显著因素是酒精税和汽油税率。有兴趣降低青少年酒后驾车率的政策制定者应在其特定社区内研究这些变量，并考虑开展针对特定社区的研究以确定最佳做法。未来应努力开发代表有兴趣降低16至20岁驾驶者酒后驾车率的特定社区的模型。
